Indigenous Ability

  FYI —The Old School Shoulder benefits discussed go for both the Combat Athlete looking for strength, power and stamina in full range of motion and the non-athletic man or woman who experiences shoulder pain, neck pain, elbow pain, and even finger numbness while sleeping. Old School thought even addresses the connection between a healthy shoulder girdle and headaches and good posture—real posture not the ramrod assumption. Now, on with the show! Ready for an obvious statement? Powerful shoulders are vital to the combat athlete and the Life-Warrior who chooses to interact with the planet rather than simply view National Geographic quality photos and allow that to suffice the soul. Combat, survival, swimming, climbing, skulking in a low crawl while on an ambush, what have you, requires not only strength, but stamina and full use of the fluidity that this ball-and-socket joint can provide in its healthy state. Now, let’s address less obvious Old School claims for shoulde...

  I chose a happy photo to counter the vibe of the extract at the end. We provocatively begin by calling the statement, “ Diets Don’t Work ” complete and utter bullshit. As a matter of fact, the statement is historically insulting. [Stay with me, we’ll get there.] Now, some who follow the fashion of a this or that “ Well, here’s how I eat ” regimen “ And it w-o-r-k-s!” will likely agree with me and perhaps hold their breaths to see if by the end of this essay I wind up giving a yea or nay vote to their current food religion. Maybe I will. Maybe I won’t. Yeah, likely I won’t. Let us begin by deconstructing the erring statement: Diets Don’t Work. If we consider it for a mere five-seconds, long enough to allow the absurdity of it to dissipate we realize Diets Don’t Work is one of the most mind-numbingly silly things that can be uttered by a sentient being. If you are reading this, I presume you are alive. If you can decipher the words on the screen—then we have evi...

  We set the stage with a story told by a young junior purser, William Hickey, as he shipped aboard the East India Company vessel the Plassey bound for Madras. Captain Waddel, then about 40 years of age, naturally grave, with an appearance of shyness or reserve, possessed one of the mildest and most equal tempers that ever man was blessed with, nor did I during a voyage out and home which I made in his ship, ever once see him angry or hear him utter a single oath or hasty expression. He loved to set the young people at some gambol or other, and was constantly promoting it. He was himself wonderfully active and strong, among various proofs of which, he did one feat that amazed the whole ship’s company, and which was I never knew any other person come at all near. It was this:-- Standing upon the Quarter deck, under the main shroud he laid hold of the first ratline with his right hand, then sprung to the second with his left and so on alternating, right and left, up to the last, c...

  Let’s start here… Jack “The Manassa Mauler” Dempsey, ran a hard training camp, one reflective of his already hard life in logging camps. Amongst lumberjacks he picked up the habit of chewing pine-resin, the sap from certain coniferous trees. These loggers, a rambunctious bunch who loved their set-to’s swore by it—said it made your jaw strong, increased your ability to take a punch. A young Dempsey, had plenty of opportunity to see fellow resin-chewers at work in a tussle and decided, “ Yeah, seems to work .” He carried the practice into his training camps. Dempsey was not alone in this resin-chewing practice, many an early pugilist, an early wrestler, an early physical culturist [the drug-free bodybuilders of yore] adopted this practice. All purported it to be a good jaw-strengthener to take a punch, or in the case of the physical culturists they chewed resin to sleep better and to improve posture. Now, perhaps we can get out heads around a little jaw-strengthening,...